Team Tizzel

Monday, September 21, 2015

Disney World September 2015 - Part 1

The last couple of years Labor Day Weekend has meant a long weekend at a marthon destination. During this time of year Holly has been in races in Oregon, Idaho, and Disneyland. We decided to switch it up this year and make an extended weekend trip to Disney World. We figured the late calendar placement of the holiday this year would lead to really low crowds. We knew rain/hurricane season could be a problem but decided to take the risk.

We spent our entire trip at The Polynesian Resort in a DVC (Disney timeshare) studio. Holly used TouringPlans.com fax service to request a specific room and it worked! We ended up on the third floor of Moorea with a Magic Kingdom View (we paid for the park view, the service helped to get us on the right floor and section far from the elevator and ferry boats) in the exact room number requested. This location is perfect for accessing the monorail to Epcot and ferry boats to Magic Kingdom.

We made it down to Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace in time to catch the Electrical Water Pageant and Wishes fireworks. We enjoyed the live music from the singer/guitarist. There are a few key tables for the better Wishes viewing and we kept moving up as people got buzzed inside to the main bar. We had our dinner from the Trader Sam's menu: tacos, lettuce wraps, sausages in corn dog batter, and pot stickers. Out of all of those items the sausages were the best. After eating we grabbed a buzzer to get a seat inside. When we were buzzed in we didn't have any seats - spare spots were at booths occupied by folks. Luckily people left the bar and we hunkered down in really uncomfortable barstools and ordered our Nautilus. This is a drink for two served in a vessel shaped like the submarine. We bought the souvenir glass to take home.

This was our second time visiting this Trader Sam's location (the original is in Disneyland) and we are kinda over it. The inside is cramped and a hassle to get into. When it is full the drink skits every two minutes get to be too much. A lot of the signature drinks taste the same and you can't get full bar offerings like decent bourbon. The Tiki Terrace offers a much more relaxing experience along with live music.

The next morning we had a huge breakfast at Kona then took off for Epcot. We arrived a few minutes after the turnstiles opened and we were able to just breeze in and get right on Spaceship Earth (golf ball). We had already decided Soarin' would not be on our itinerary so we took our time going over to The Living Seas. We made a detour at The Character Spot when we noticed a standby wait of ten minutes posted. It was actually a walk-in. Three quick character photos and off we went.

We took our time in The Sea Pavilion looking at the fish,dolphins, and manatee and even caught the Turtle Talk with Crush show. We headed over to Journey into Imagination for the obligatory ride with Figment. We then went over to Mission Space and Test Track before heading over to World Showcase.

We visited Duffy for what may be the last times. His meet and greet spot is going away but we are not sure if he is leaving as well. We decided to skip the La Cava margarita stop (shocking) in favor of having beers instead. Dave stopped in Germany for an Oktoberfest while Holly grabbed a Yuengling from The Outpost. We chose to enjoy our beers on a bench and watch the Friendship Boats go by.

Lunch was at Via Napoli. We found a formula of how to order just the right amount of food: order of calamari and one small quattro frommage pizza. We skipped the heavy La Rossa beers in favor of the frozen limoncello. Food was awesome but it took a long time to get our pizza.

We were debating whether to watch the Morocco band or the Scottish Folk band in England. Since we have never seen the Paul McKenna Band we headed to the UK Pavilion. They were good for the 8 minutes they played - Paul broke a string and cut the show short. With that, we left the park and headed back to the resort for pool time. When we arrived at the Poly we found the pool closed due to lightning nearby. Plan B: Tiki Terrace and a Lapu Lapu. Eventually the pool opened up and we spent a few minutes enjoying the break before heading back to Epcot.

Back in Epcot we took another World Showcase lap and made the La Cava stop this time. We took our time browsing some stores while sipping our Classic and San Angel. We stopped in the Rose and Crown so Dave could try the Macallan flight (12, 15, and 18 year old scotch). The Hat Lady was performing and the crowd was into it. While standing there some 80's hits were audible - maybe form outside? No, the guy next to us was playing his iPod through a speaker in his bag. Stupid hipsters.

Dinner was at Le Celier in the Canadian Pavilion. This is not one of our favorites but we figured we would try again. We shared poutine and had bison and filet mignon for main courses. The food was better than the last time but our server was a little lacking. Probably won't hurry back. Afer dinner the park was closed so back to the resort to relax and prepare for the next day.

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About Us

Holly and Dave formed Team Tizzel as a way to share race reports and other travel-related items while raising awareness for various charities.

They live in Northern Illinois and spend their free time traveling, boating the Chain O' Lakes, and participating in races.

Holly runs several marathons a year and is currently working on the goal of "50 Marathons in 50 States". Dave mainly follows the course and takes pictures and video. He authored a guide on spectating distance races which can be purchased at racechasebook.com.

As part of Team AllEars they raised over $33,000 for Avon's Breast Cancer charities and now focus on raising awareness for different causes through "Team Tizzel's Charity of the Month"